The inventive concepts relate to a conductive atomic force microscopes and methods of operating the same, and more particularly, to systems for scaling measured currents of an object measured by different probes of a conductive atomic force microscope including probes and/or methods of operating the same.
A conductive atomic force microscope (c-AFM) is a microscope that is configured to measure conductance and resistance of an object (hereinafter, referred to as measurement object) at a spatial resolution of tens of nanometers by applying a bias voltage to the measurement object and measuring a current flowing between a probe and the measurement object. In order to measure a current by using a conductive atomic force microscope, a probe coated with a conductive material may contact with the measurement object to form a current path therebetween. The resistance and conductance distribution of the measurement object may be measured by measuring a current flowing through the probe at each position by moving the measurement object and/or the probe.
In the conductive atomic force microscope using the probe, the contact resistance between the probe and the measurement object may affect the measurement result. To ensure the reliable and reproducible measurements, uniform maintenance of the contact resistance between the probe and the measurement object is desired.